By Enyichukwu Enemanna
British Government on Monday told the Supreme Court that Kigali can be trusted to treat asylum seekers sent to Rwanda humanly.
At the opening of their appeal which seeks to set aside the ruling of the Appeal Court blocking the transfer of asylum seekers to Rwanda, lawyers for the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman said the Court of Appeal erred in blocking the UK government’s plan to remove some asylum seekers to Rwanda amid fears about its human rights record.
They urged the UK apex court to let the scheme which has been in limbo since it was stopped 16 months ago to go ahead.
The scheme allows anyone who comes to the UK without authorisation from a safe country and seeks asylum, that is to say people crossing the English Channel in small boats from France can be blocked from making a claim for protection to be sent to Rwanda instead.
The government argues that this would deter criminal people-smuggling gangs.
This has however been disputed and officials estimate the scheme could be more expensive than dealing with the migrants in the UK.
In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights blocked the departure of the first flight, saying that British judges needed time to fully consider whether the plan was legal.
That battle has now reached the Supreme Court, where five of the UK’s most senior judges will decide the scheme’s fate.
The government’s lawyers have said that in June the Court of Appeal was wrong to conclude that Rwanda’s asylum system was so flawed.
